NOEL UNIMPRESSED BY TALES OF OASIS’ DEMISE

Noel Gallagher has denied UK media speculation that Oasis are to split at the end of their world tour – and is already making plans for the band’s fourth album.

Last Friday’s (January 30) edition of UK tabloid The Sun carried a story from a US radio broadcast from a solo gig in an ‘English’ pub in Santa Monica last Wednesday (January 28) where Gallagher was alleged to have said he was “bored with being a rock star” and “breaking up after the tour sounds probably right.”

But Gallagher said in an interview with a New Zealand paper on Saturday night: “I’m not even going to give the story credence by answering it… but it’s twisted pretty well. out of all the twisted things I’ve ever read, it’s twisted pretty well. But it’s entertaining, put it that way.

“One of the press people over here [the US] said, ‘There’s some stuff going on back in England’. I hadn’t been bothered reading it. I read it just five minutes ago ‘cos I was warned you might ask some questions about it.”

Gallagher said that this US tour had been going well despite claims that the band’s American audience was dropping. He said the British press seemed intent on recreating the band’s earlier problems touring the US. He said band had been playing to full houses in 6,000 to 12,000 venues throughout the tour.

“I always tell people how good it is, and then people go back home to England and write how shit it is,” he said.

Gallagher also said he was finishing building a studio in his new house north of London and wanted to start writing again at the end of this summer.

He added: “I’m not in the frame of mind to be making decisions at the moment ‘cos I’m on the road. We don’t know who’s going to produce it [the next album] , which is not to say it won’t be the same person as last time. Nothing’s been decided except that stage one is finished in April.”

Noel said he planned to “watch the end of the football season” on his return to the UK and take a holiday with his wife Meg. It was unlikely Oasis would play live over the summer. Next week Oasis are due to leave America for concerts in Asia and Australia. South American shows are also being finalised. The band’s world tour ends in April.